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CDAO Melbourne Day One
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08:15
Register; grab a coffee. Mix, mingle and say hello to peers old and new.
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08:50
Welcome from Corinium and the Chairperson
Su Jella - Board Member - Women’s Tennis Foundation
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09:00
Speed Networking
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09:05
Keynote Headliner: From Data Strategy to Enterprise Impact: Operationalising Value at Scale
Darshil Mehta - Former Chief Data Officer - King & Wood Mallesons
- Translating strategy into execution
- Enterprise-wide value realisation
- Balancing governance and agility
- Enabling change through people and culture
- Building a culture of value with AI and Data Products
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09:30
Empowering Food Relief: Harnessing Data for Maximum Impact
Kennie Greagen - Applied Research & Innovation Manager - Foodbank Victoria
Foodbank Victoria is dedicated to providing food relief to vulnerable communities across Victoria. By partnering with local charity partners, schools, and councils, it ensures that nutritious food reaches those in need. Through sophisticated data analysis, Foodbank Victoria strategically allocates resources, identifies areas of high demand, and measures the impact of its initiatives. This data-driven approach enhances efficiency and maximises the reach and effectiveness of its food relief programs throughout the state.
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09:55
Keynote Panel: CDAO Dilemmas in 2025: What Are the Top Strategies for Balancing AI, Governance & Business Demands?
- AI vs. Governance: How can CDAOs drive AI innovation while ensuring ethical and regulatory compliance?
- Modernisation vs. Legacy: How can data leaders upgrade infrastructure without disrupting operations?
- Talent & Skills Gap: How do you attract, retain, and upskill teams in a rapidly evolving landscape?
Moderator:
Su Jella Board Member Women’s Tennis Foundation
Speakers:
David Evans Director of Data & Analytics WorkSafe Victoria
Catherine Arnold Chief of Data Services SEEK
Tonya Higgins Head of Data and Insights Beyond Blue
Ketan Karkhanis CEO ThoughtSpot
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10:30
Morning Coffee and Connect
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11:00
When Data Speaks: How AI is Changing Lives – and Why Trust Matters More Than Ever!
Brad Starr - VP Data & AI - Informatica
Join Brad Starr VP Data & AI at Informatica, for a powerful personal journey, from restoring hearing, through medical innovation to saving lives in bushfires and feeding communities through precision agriculture. In this deeply personal and forward-looking presentation, Brad shares urgent insights on why building a trusted modern data foundation is critical before AI shapes your brand, your business, and someone’s life.
Speakers:
Brad Starr VP Data & AI Informatica
Jonathon Bowring Field Engineer Informatica
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11:25
Keynote Panel: Exploring the Impact of AI and Data Democratisation in Modern Enterprises
- Exploring how AI and data democratisation are reshaping business operations by enabling real-time insights and enhancing operational efficiency
- Discussing how enterprises can measure the return on investment (ROI) from AI initiatives in conjunction with data democratisation efforts
- Examining the ethical implications of leveraging AI within a democratised data framework
Moderator:
Su Jella Board Member Women’s Tennis Foundation
Speakers:
Ben Pattison CDAO Flight Centre Travel Group
Ian Jackman Former General Manager Data and Analytics Bendigo and Adelaide Bank
Dr David Black GM Data & Analytics Scentre Group
Mark (Sarge) Sergeant Head of Technology - Data Platforms Latitude Financial Services
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12:00
Strategy: Next-Generation Decision Intelligence with Agentic AI
Cristian Gomez - Data & AI Technology Lead - Strategy
Discover how agentic AI and a unified semantic layer accelerate trusted and governed insights for agile decision-making, moving beyond legacy BI limitations. Gain insights from Strategy as they showcase their game-changer data management solution, sharing real-world strategies for achieving faster, smarter decisions with substantial business impact, all while ensuring control and trust. Discover Strategy's bold vision for future-proofing your governed analytics strategy.
Speakers:
Cristian Gomez Data & AI Technology Lead Strategy
Apurv Baviskar Head Data/AI Strategy, Architecture, Innovation, Product Medibank
Eric Poulin General Manager and VP Sales Strategy
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12:25
From Buzz to Business Value: Realising Tangible Value from Data & AI Investments
Elaine Zhuang - General Manager, Strategy, Transformation and Value Delivery, Chief Data Office - nbn Australia
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12:50
Beyond AI Readiness: Architecting the Cognitive Enterprise with Responsible AI at Scale
Laxmi Narayana Piska - Digital Impact Consulting Leader - HCLTech
As enterprises accelerate their AI journeys, the conversation must shift from experimentation and readiness to architecting scalable, responsible AI ecosystems that drive real business transformation. This session explores how organisations can evolve into cognitive enterprises—entities that embed intelligence across workflows, decisions, and customer experiences—while ensuring that AI is ethical, transparent, and trustworthy.
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13:15
Lunch
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13:15
Private Data Leader’s Lunch - Hosted by Qlik
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Track A - Data Governance, Quality & Integrity
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Track Chair
Su Jella - Board Member - Women’s Tennis Foundation
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14:25
Top Tips to Get Your Data AI-Ready
Sam Darmo - Senior Sales Engineer - Precisely
AI can elevate your organisation to the next level of data intelligence, but research shows that only 4% of organisations believe their data is AI-ready. To ensure AI results you can trust, you need accurate, good quality data underpinning it. In this presentation, we’ll explore:
- The impacts of delivering data that is not AI-ready
- The essential data governance & quality considerations that will set you up for AI-success
- Practical solutions to common AI challenges such as AI bias, and lack of contextual relevance
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14:50
Data Quality as a Competitive Advantage: Moving Beyond Cleanup to Continuous Trust
Kathryn Gulifa - General Manager-Data Analytics - HBF
- How can organisations shift from reactive data quality fixes to a proactive data trust strategy?
- The role of leadership in embedding data quality into enterprise culture
- Case studies of companies that improved decision-making through better data quality
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15:15
Panel: From Chaos to Clarity: Strengthening Data Quality and Trust in the Age of AI
AI is only as powerful as the data that fuels it—and in today’s federated, fast-changing environments, ensuring that data is accurate, consistent, and trustworthy is no small task. Legacy systems, complex migrations, and sprawling vendor ecosystems can all erode quality, creating risk at the very moment your organisation needs confidence in its insights. In this practical panel, Thomas Janssen of Judo Bank and Raja Koushik of Kinetic share how they are strengthening data foundations, streamlining architectures, and creating governance frameworks that protect trust without slowing innovation. Walk away with actionable strategies for maintaining quality, choosing the right partners, and making your data AI-ready.panellists.
Moderator:
Della Zhuang Vice President of Growth (ANZ) Ataccama
Speakers:
Thomas Janssen Head of Data Architecture & Governance Judo Bank
Raja Koushik Data Migration & Governance Manager Kinetic
Sales Strategy
Ram Jayaraman Senior Manager - Data & Analytics Deloitte
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15:40
Striking the Balance between Innovation vs. Governance in Data Strategy – the CDAO's Role in Navigating Competing Priorities
Amanda Princi - Head of Data & AI Enablement - Transurban
This session delves into the delicate balance between driving innovation and ensuring robust governance within a data strategy. We’ll discuss how CDAOs can effectively allocate resources to foster innovation while maintaining strong governance and security practices.
How can you craft a data strategy that embraces technological advancements without compromising compliance, security, or operational integrity?
Key Discussion Points:
- The competing demands of innovation and governance: Challenges and benefits
- Practical strategies for prioritizing resources across both innovation and governance
- Defining the optimal balance: What does success look like, and how can it future-proof the organisation?
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16:00
Stopping Bad Bots: A Data-Centric Approach
Gunjan Shrestha - Senior Solution Architect - Tricentis
- The Critical Role of Data Integrity in AI Systems: Exploring how compromised data integrity can result in flawed AI models - often referred to as "bad bots” - that introduce errors and biases into financial ecosystems
- Reducing Risks in Data Pipelines feeding AI Models: Implementing strategies to maintain high-quality data inputs in AI/ML models, minimising the long-term consequences of inaccurate or corrupted data
- Establishing a Resilient Data Framework: Designing comprehensive data integrity check systems to ensure consistent, accurate, and effective AI-driven decision-making
- Insights from Real-World Applications: Analysing how leading financial institutions tackle data integrity challenges and the broader impact on their AI initiatives
- Building Trust in Data-Driven Approaches: Outlining key measures that global financial organisations can adopt to ensure their AI strategies are grounded in accurate and reliable data.
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Track B - Innovation
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Track Chair
Ana Roy - Former Head of Merchandise Analytics - Kmart
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14:25
How Top CDAOs Are Building Safe Enterprise AI
Tim Stead - Technical Director - Securiti
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14:50
Delivering a Sustainable AI Outcome for the Business
Craig Rowlands - General Manager Enterprise Data & AI - Australian Unity
- Build the foundations: Strong AI governance
- Start small think big: Building iterative outcomes that enable strategic use cases
- Paths to production: Examples of buy and build use cases to enable delivery at scale
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15:15
Operationalising AI: Scaling Real Impact and Data-Driven Leadership
Naresh Teckchandani - CIO - Forever New
- Move from AI pilots to business value: what works for real adoption and impact
- Lead with data: the essentials of modern, AI-powered leadership
- Build trust: keys to responsible, governed, and ethical AI at scale
Speakers:
Naresh Teckchandani CIO Forever New
Sundar Ramaswamy Head – AI & Analytics CoE Happiest Minds Technologies
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15:40
Human-Centred AI & Data Architecture: Designing for People, Not Just Technology
Milica Ng - Senior Director, Head Data Science - CSL
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16:05
The Future of Enterprise Intelligence: Powered by Agents, Aligned by Strategy
Ketan Karkhanis - CEO - ThoughtSpot
Agentic AI is not just a technical innovation—it’s a strategic one. Join Ketan Karkhanis, CEO of ThoughtSpot, to explore how enterprise leaders can align their agentic capabilities with strategic goals, ensuring that AI systems deliver measurable business outcomes.
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Private Roundtable
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14:25 to 15:40
The Future of Master Data and AI
Discussion Topics:
- AI for Master Data, Master Data for AI: How Master Data Management and AI can mutually enable and accelerate each other’s value
- Data Quality & Trust: Building a reliable data foundation to unlock confident decision-making and innovation
- Sustainability: Leveraging data to drive sustainable business outcomes and meet evolving ESG expectations and reporting obligations
Hosted by Stibo Systems
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16:30
Afternoon Coffee and Connect
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17:00
A Fireside Chat with Australian Unity: Operationalising Data Retention in the Age of AI
Craig Rowlands - General Manager Enterprise Data & AI - Australian Unity
Speakers:
Craig Rowlands General Manager Data Australian Unity
Adam Plotnikov Senior Solutions Engineer BigID
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17:25
Reimagining Data Products for the AI Era: Smarter, Scalable, and Self-Serving
Marc Ashworth - General Manager Data Science & Data Product Engineering - nbn Australia
Speakers:
Marc Ashworth General Manager Data Science & Data Product Engineering nbn Australia
Asmita Deshpande EM Data Product & Data Governance Expert nbn Australia
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17:50
Closing Remarks of Day One
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17:55
CDAO Drinks Reception
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17:55
Private Data Leader’s Dinner - Hosted by ThoughtSpot
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CDAO Melbourne Day Two
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07:30
Private Breakfast - Hosted by Quantexa
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09:00
Welcome from Corinium and the Chairperson
Ana Roy - Head of Merchandise Analytics - Kmart
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09:10
How to Deliver Value From Lean Data Teams
Kate Lucas - Chief Analytics Officer - Department of Health
- Transforming the data products journey with AI Agents
- How AI Agents enable a new approach to data products engineering
- Broader opportunities for AI Agents in technology
- Positive disruption and its impact on data engineering across the industry
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09:35
Agentic AI: The Path to an Autonomous Workforce
Esther Lim - Principal Solutions Consultant - Quest Software
In this session, Esther Lim explores the evolving landscape of AI in enterprise environments and what we expect to see over the next 12 – 18 months. From single agents supporting individual use-cases to orchestrating multiple agents to service higher value use-cases, she will cover:
- The most common challenges senior leaders face
- Examples of AI in action
- Practitioner productivity improvements
- Future AI
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10:00
Keynote Panel: Conquering the New Data Landscape - Governance, AI, Culture, and Cost
- What is truly new to data & analytics today?
- How do you envision and deliver robust governance frameworks for successful adoption of new data-driven technologies while ensuring ethical and responsible use of these technologies?
- Upskilling employees so they are equipped with the skills to engage with the technology, while maintaining transparency and accountability through effective governance practices.
- Examining the comprehensive costs of evolving data landscapes, including talent acquisition and retention, technology infrastructure, data quality and availability, and ethical considerations
- Is new technology creating as many challenges as it’s solving?
Moderator:
Nader Chmait Head of Data & Analytics New Aim
Panellists:
Greg Turner GM Data & Analytics Resolution Life
Rakesh Kalyankar Head of Data Services AustralianSuper
Christian Biggs Director, Data Analytics and Transformation The University of Melbourne
Benedict Chiu Director, Services Australian Research Data Commons
Ana Roy Former Head of Merchandise Analytics Kmart
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10:35
NETWORKING BREAK
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11:10
Building Trust in AI: Inside Yarra Valley Water’s Journey
Swati Gupta - Head of Data & Analytics - Yarra Valley Water
Adopting AI in large, complex organisations is never straightforward. In government, the challenge is even greater: risk appetite is naturally lower, accountability expectations are higher, and citizens’ expectations are shaped by their daily interactions with global AI leaders. They rightly expect their governments to be just as competent, responsible, and responsive. That raises questions many organisations are grappling with today:
- How do you ensure AI improves both customer and employee experience?
- How do you prevent different parts of the business from running in different directions?
- How do you bring along the sceptics while supporting those ready to experiment?
- And how do you manage the flood of models coming from individuals, business units, IT, and vendors?
Yarra Valley Water set out to answer these questions by working with IM Systems (IMS), a consultancy specialising in data governance, architecture, and AI. The project involved engaging business stakeholders, establishing an AI Advisory Group, developing induction materials, and co-creating a draft AI Policy and Standard to provide guardrails for safe, trusted adoption.
Speakers:
Swati Gupta Head of Data & Analytics Yarra Valley Water
Anshu Singh Data Governance Manager Yarra Valley Water
George Bassili Managing Partner IMS
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11:35
Bridging Data Silos: Unlocking Value Through Secure Collaboration
Saurav Sachdev - Head of Data - Coles
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12:00
Mastering AI Agents – The Chief’s Imperative
Vicent Osabel - Principal Solutions Engineer - Dataiku
- From Pilot to Performance — how top tech leaders are delivering enterprise-ready AI agents that drive measurable business outcomes
- Blueprints for Scale — how to embed resilient agentic architecture without disrupting existing infrastructure
- Governance in Motion — how to stay in control as AI agents grow more autonomous
- Scaling with Sanity — maximise AI impact without blowing budgets, compromising compliance, or introducing tech debt
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12:25
Keynote Panel Discussion: Transforming Data Strategy: Unlocking Growth through Integration and Innovation
- Building a Strong Foundation: Establishing key pillars like data quality, governance, and interconnected ecosystems to craft scalable, high-impact data strategies
- Addressing the complexities of fragmented, outdated systems while integrating diverse data sources to drive transparency and unlock new value
- Exploring how generative AI and advanced analytics can enhance traditional approaches, delivering both operational efficiency and strategic growth opportunities
Moderator:
Bismi Palatty Manager, Data Platforms and Integrations Alfred Health
Speakers:
Tracy Moore General Manager of AI & Data MYOB
Xavier Varalda General Manager Data, Analytics & Data Governance Sigma Healthcare
Sveta Freidman Global GM, Data & Analytics /VP of Data & Analytics Xero
Raja Koushik Data Migration and Governance Manager Kinetic Group
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13:00
Lunch
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13:00
Private Data Leader’s Lunch - Hosted by Snowflake
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14:00
Panel Discussion: Uplifting Data Literacy and Embedding It into Everyday Processes
- What are the challenges you are facing with literacy today?
- Strategy and road mapping for your organisation
- What are your processes for keeping the organisation up-to-date?
Moderator:
Peta Stevenson Group Head of Data and Analytics Cbus Super FundSpeakers:
Mark Gu Group Manager Advanced Analytics St John of God Health Care
Nader Chmait Head of Data & Analytics New Aim
Katie Bayley Head of Insights & Analytics City of Melbourne
Melroy Vanlangenberg Head of Data Governance Australian Unity
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14:40
Transforming Business with Generative AI: Data-Driven Strategies for Success
Dr M Maruf Hossain - 2024 Global Top 100 Innovators in Data and Analytics - Banking and Finance Sector
- Is Generative AI really revolutionising data and analytics, driving business innovation and value?
- What are the key trends and forces shaping the integration of Generative AI into business processes
- Learn practical strategies for adapting data practices to support effective AI system development
- Discover actionable insights for redesigning business models and strategies to fully leverage AI capabilities
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15:05
AFTERNOON TEA
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15:35
Product Association and Cross Shop Analysis for Multi-Site and Multi-Product Businesses
Asel Mendis - Analytics Lead Property - Kmart
- What is cross shop?
- Implementation and measuring cross shop
- How they can be implemented in a physical retail format and online
- Informative ways to measure performance for key stakeholders
- Value to the business
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16:00
Closing Panel: Data 2025 - Bold Predictions, Big Bets & Unpopular Opinions
- What’s one “unsexy” data trend that you think will quietly dominate in 2025 - and no one is paying enough attention to yet?
- If you had to kill one overused data buzzword or practice before the year ends, what would it be, and what should replace it?
- If you were placing a bold bet on where data is headed in 2025 — technology, talent, AI, governance, anything — what would you bet on, and what do you think would make it succeed or flop?
- What's your most unpopular opinion about where data, AI, or governance is headed — and why do you stand by it?
Speakers:
Ana Roy Head of Merchandise Analytics Kmart
Raja Koushik Data Migration and Governance Manager Kinetic Group
Navin Vishwanath Head of Data Management NAB
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16:35
Close of CDAO Melbourne 2025
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